November 08, (THEWILL) – Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited will adopt expansion strategies that deepen financial inclusion for wealth creation while providing investment channels through cutting-edge technology in the fintech space.
To this end its newly created fintech platform, Optimus, will be deployed to achieve optimal benefits of modern technology as the fast-growing company enhances its operations to meet the demands of modern financial services.
These disclosures were made by the group managing director/chief executive officer (GMD/CEO), Afrinvest West Africa, Ike Chioke, in a media parley held at the company’s head office in Ikoyi – Lagos.
Chioke who fielded questions from representatives of select media houses said that Afrinvest is marking its 27th anniversary this year as a successful financial services firm which has weathered the storm in turbulent times.
He stressed that the long experience the company had garnered has enabled it to adapt to cutting-edge technology not only to survive the stiff competition in the industry, but to stay ahead of its peers as it works towards establishing offshore subsidiaries by its 30th anniversary.
“For Afrinvest as a firm, we are 27 years plus and we have seen competition in different spheres.
“We were one of the biggest advisers of companies during the bank consolidation exercise under Charles Soludo in 2004. Banks were raising money to increase their capital from N2 billion to 25 billion or to merge in order to partner with another banks and to boost their capital to meet up the threshold. From that middle of 2004 to the end of 2005, 89 banks shrank to 25 banks.
“What that then did for us was that when we entered 2006, we suddenly found that the banks were now competing with us. Those banks with N2 billion are now swimming in money. By 2007-2008, banks had created capital market subsidiaries. We went through a strong competition with the banks so we had to do something.
“You cannot stay in one place when such a change occurs. We were caught in the middle as financial services firm, between the big banks and the smaller financial services firms. We realized that if we do not do anything, they will swallow us. That led to the quantum leap in growth that we are celebrating today.”
Speaking on the recently launched Optimus app, Chioke said it was a revolution in the fintech space as it was created to solve several problems for the investor and members of the public as the world advances in technology.
He said, “What Optimus does is to help you play effectively in the market. It gives you a window similar to any other fintech platform; however, it allows you to navigate seamlessly.
“for instance, if you open an account with the Capital subsidiary and you have a need to do something with the Trustee platform, you don’t heed to go and fill another form.
“When you are on Optimus, the system is automatically doing that for you and onboarding the cost without the hassles of moving from one app to the other.
“The Optimus app offers you the comfort and convenience of financial transaction that eliminates anxieties about efficiency gaps, knowing that behind this platform is rich expertise, knowledge and experience of the company. “
Chioke said the role of Afrinvest is to manage the money for its clients by ensuring that they do not fall into the traps of the fraudulent mouth-watering yields offered by faceless promoters on the internet.
He said, “Risk management is important. Any one that takes your money and promises to double it for you overnight is not telling you the truth.
“Optimus gives you sufficient window of transparency that enhances confidence in the use of fintech platforms. We believe it will help our clients manage their money seamlessly.
“Each of the services the Optimus app gives you is supported by a licensed counterparty. In that process. You can see we are not going to do what we are not licensed for.
“It boosts financial inclusion, so that those that are saving and want high yield will interface with a growing company that also needs money.”
Chioke said the group has other subsidiaries to facilitate the financial services role of the company towards wealth-creation and boosting the economy. These include Afrinvest Capital, Afrinvest Assets Management, Afrininvest Securities Trading, Afrinvest Trustees and Afrinvest Consulting.
He noted that Afrinvest has through its annual Banking Sector Reports offered solutions to the country’s financial and economic problems but that the political will-power to do what is right has been lacking.
He said the title of this year’s report is “Brace for impact” in response to the myriad of economic challenges facing the country now and in the coming year.
He said the nation’s revenue crisis and the humongous expenditure on petrol subsidy will pose a serious challenge for the incoming leadership coupled with the high rate of insecurity and large population of out-of-school children.
He said, Afrinvest, as part of its corporate social responsibility, invests much on capacity building and education.
“Afrinvest is particular about education and empowerment. We identify states that are focused on education and support them in our little way because we believe that with knowledge, comes understanding and from there you know how to solve problems; and we must catch them young.
“When we look at the 20 million out-of-school children, you see it is really a problem. We have the problem of insecurity today, imagine 20 million out-of-school children at 22 when they are young adults and they cannot read or right and have no skill, it will be terrible. Part of our focus is to use technology to support and make impact on education.
Chioke said the CBN Naira redesign policy was both unnecessary and ill-timed and could have been handled in a better way by pushing it to next year and giving time for adequate awareness.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
